2013 — 18 May: Saturday

While looking for something completely different last night1 I discovered, and watched, a trailer for the new Richard Curtis film. Some might say "About Time" :-)

And I shall try to remember to catch this tonight. Sandi Toksvig is a heroine of mine. She tells an amusing anecdote (well over 20 years ago, I realise now) in what was the Broadcasting Standards Council Annual Review for 1992. I picked that up on my family nostalgia trip to Cambridge in late August 1993:

Sandi Toksvig describes an episode of the Channel 4 comedy drama The Big One that she co-wrote with her partner Elly Brewer. She found herself referred to the Director of Programmes on the grounds of 'decency and taste' raised by a line of dialogue: "I have a six and a half inch penis when fully erect". This, if you please, turned out to be the big issue.
Ms Toksvig muses that no-one raised with her the fact that in another line of dialogue her character said of another one that he made me "damp in my tufty club". As she said, "as it related to female sexual feelings perhaps no one knew what I was referring to." She goes on, more generally: "Men's bottoms seem quite acceptable especially if set in Victorian times, he is a bit of a rake and just off for a swim. Women's bottoms are fine but never the 'front bottom'. There is quite a lot of activity around the breasts with the occasional breath-taking close-up of a nipple. Mostly the women lie 'spent' with a sheet draped between their legs which, as any woman can tell you, will leave very awkward stains."

Date: 1992


Oh, to have been a fly on the wall :-)

Meanwhile I've just heard an interesting 30-minute programme about a TV drama called "Casualty" that I've never seen. Apparently it's been running for 27 years. Who knew?

My next burst...

... of Jane Austen-related reading is now on its way. I was obviously too busy reading Austen to spot this at the time. Still, it holds promise...

Game Theorist?

... and the young chap seems to have done his research. I shall be sending a 'thank you' email to the chap who runs this blog.

Thanks, Mr Postie

Though (as usual) I could have done without the invoice from the care-home. Since I couldn't convince myself that I've ever seen George Roy Hill's 1972 film of Kurt Vonnegut's novel (which has long since fled my shelves) — and since the DVD cost all of £3-78 including postage — I thought "better late than never".

DVD

I've been catching up with yesterday's Kermode and Mayo... a particularly fine episode.

Rather later

I can report that the short Sandi Toksvig play was a delight, and I have no idea why used CD copies of Brian Eno's 1993 ":Neroli:" currently command such a high price. Most odd. (As I work my way through the remaining CDs I occasionally check to see if remastered versions have been issued. I have, after all, been buying the things for the last 30 years.)

If you don't like being called a "mad, swivel-eyed loon" maybe you shouldn't be in politics :-)

  

Footnote

1  Inevitably.